Attorneys Leading the Legal Fight Against the Ban Applaud Bipartisan Members of Congress for Standing By Transgender Troops

Washington, D.C– GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) and the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) released the following statements on today’s hearing on the transgender military ban by the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel:

“The testimony offered today by transgender service members proves that transgender troops are highly qualified and providing essential service to our country. We appreciate that leaders in Congress are elevating these stories and doing their part to protect our troops at the same time that our legal fight for the rights of transgender service members continues in the courts,” said Jennifer Levi, GLAD’s Transgender Rights Project director.

“We applaud this bipartisan recognition that all service members deserve our nation’s gratitude and respect,” said Shannon Minter, legal director at NCLR. “Today’s hearing once again demonstrates that barring transgender service members harms our military and undermines national security. Action from Congress is a welcome second front in the effort to ensure that anyone who meets the readiness and medical standards should be allowed to serve, including those who are transgender.”

GLAD and NCLR have been at the center of the legal fight challenging the Trump-Pence transgender military ban since filing the first lawsuit against the ban, Doe v. Trump, on August 9, 2017.

The ban currently remains blocked while injunctions issued by the district court in Doe v. Trump and by a Maryland district court remain in place. On January 22, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the injunctions in two other cases, while also rejecting the Trump administration’s request that it hear legal challenges to Trump’s transgender military ban this term.

Through strategic litigation, public policy advocacy, and education, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders works in New England and nationally to create a just society free of discrimination based on gender identity and expression, HIV status, and sexual orientation. www.GLAD.org

The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) was the first national LGBTQ legal organization founded by women and brings a fierce, longstanding commitment to racial and economic justice and our community’s most vulnerable. Since 1977, NCLR has been at the forefront of advancing the civil and human rights of LGBTQ people and their families through impact litigation, public policy, and public education. Decades ago, NCLR launched the first LGBTQ Immigration Project, Transgender Rights Project, Youth Project, Elder Law Project, and began working to end conversion therapy through what is now the Born Perfect campaign. www.nclrights.org